Taking a cue from the kindness of kids
Sep 25, 2017, 6:23 AM | Updated: Oct 1, 2024, 10:41 am
Emma Becker. (Contributed)
(Contributed)
I’ve joked with my sister, who has a daughter around the same age as mine, about what it would be like if adults greeted adult strangers the same way children greet children strangers.
My daughter never hesitates to walk up to another child and say, “HI! I’M FOUR. HOW OLD ARE YOU?” It’s very intense but always met with a smile from the other child. Instant friends.
She’s also taken to doodling on one of my reporter notebooks while sitting in the grocery store cart and handing out her art to strangers — usually adults. This gesture is also met with a smile.
I just don’t think I’d get the same reaction. Why is it weird for adults to be friendly?
As we continue to ponder why we, as adults, are suspicious of friendly people allow me to introduce you to 12-year-old Emma Becker. She’s been a patient at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center for four years. She has tumors in her brain and is undergoing chemotherapy.
Emma makes the most of her time. For her birthday last month, she launched a campaign to collect silly socks for every kid who has to come through the hospital doors. She encouraged donations through a Facebook page followed by thousands.
She started her goal at 1,200 pairs of socks but quickly smashed that with 2,300 pairs of socks and counting. And what’s incredible about Emma is that this isn’t the first time she’s done a good deed for her friends.
“I collected 10,000 containers of Playdough,” Emma told FOX61. She ran a lemonade stand as well and bought iTunes gift cards.
Emma is fighting for her life, but she lives by one rule: “No matter how big or small you are you just need an idea to make a lot of other kids happy.”
Once she’s done collecting socks she hopes to solicit donations of Halloween costumes for her friends at the hospital.
You can hear Colleen O’Brien’s “Daily Dose of Kindness” segment every morning at 7:30 a.m. on KIRO Radio 97.3 FM
